Dexmedetomidine or a salt thereof, which is an agonist of α2 adrenergic receptor, has a sedative action, an analgesic action and a sympathoinhibitory action, and is used as a sedative. At present, dexmedetomidine or a salt thereof is used in Japan for sedation during artificial respiration in intensive care and after removing artificial respirators; whereas, in foreign countries, it is widely used as a sedative and an analgesic. As the dosage form of dexmedetomidine, intravenous administration alone is used.
As another dosage form of dexmedetomidine, a transdermal preparation is investigated. As examples, a non-aqueous patch composed of a backing layer/anchor adhesive layer/porous intermediate layer/contact adhesive layer/release liner (Patent Document 1); a reservoir patch (Patent Document 2); a patch using a cyclodextrin derivative (Patent Document 3); and a patch containing a carboxylic acid salt of dexmedetomidine (Patent Document 4) have been reported.